If the LGBTQ+ Community Is a Team, What Kind of Team Are We?
United we stand. Divided we fall.
Overheard, one queer person to another:
“Well, we’re on the same team.”
The response:
“That’s right. We can’t afford to forget that.”
Hearing this exchange inclined me to ask myself…
Is the LGBTQ+ community really a team?
And, if so…
What kind of team are we?
Some observations about teams…
Of course, the most prototypical image of a team derives from the sports world. Businesses, too, often refer to their workforce as a team, while encouraging employees to be “team players” and rewarding them accordingly.
On a sports team, each individual player fills a specific role — or, in sports parlance, plays a certain position. Each position requires certain individual attributes (height, weight, strength, quickness, acumen, etc.). Beyond those native traits, the player must learn and practice a certain set of skills before they can be prepared to take on certain responsibilities.
The ultimate success of the team depends upon each teammate accepting their individual role and, for the benefit of the…
